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Halfords... why, oh why...
David Jenkins - 18/6/21 at 09:24 AM

Just been to get a small bottle of brake fluid, and chose Halfords as it's peeing down with rain and I couldn't be bothered to trek around in the rain to get a better price.

Went to pay, and the cashier said "What's the best email address for your receipt?" - I couldn't even be bothered to discuss it, so flatly said "No". Strangely enough, a standard printed till receipt was produced.

Devious bunch of monkeys...


McLannahan - 18/6/21 at 09:38 AM

I don't mind this to be honest. It makes claiming warranty/guarantees a lot easier? I'd rather save the paper/printing too.

You could always dedicate an email address for this sort of thing? Easy if you have a Gmail address as you can customise those easily (username+halfords@gmail.com)


gremlin1234 - 18/6/21 at 09:52 AM

one of my cars has its own gmail address, being its numberplate@gmail.com


McLannahan - 18/6/21 at 09:55 AM

quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
one of my cars has its own gmail address, being its numberplate@gmail.com


Great idea to keep all invoices and receipts linked to one address - I like it! I suppose you could photograph everything else that didn't support this and email it to the account. Genius thinking this Gremlin!


David Jenkins - 18/6/21 at 10:10 AM

All very worthy reasons - but I'm quite certain that all they want is to send me junk emails.


nick205 - 18/6/21 at 10:40 AM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
All very worthy reasons - but I'm quite certain that all they want is to send me junk emails.



David

Halfords are one of many retailers (Screwfix is another) that have been doing this for some time now. Yes, they'd email you the receipt, which reduces paper + ink + printer use and makes receipts easier/tidier to store.

I've never given them an email address - like you I don't trust them not to bombard me with marketting I don't want.

I have several email addresses already, work, home and scouts. I don't want any more to faff about reading or looking after.

If I want to keep the receipt I've got a free Android app "Tiny Scanner" that you use to take a take a photo of the paper receipt. It turns it straight to a PDF and files it on my cloud drive - job done.


craig1410 - 18/6/21 at 11:30 AM

As a trade card holder, they already have my email address anyway so I just give them that address. I know this won't work for most people but honestly I would rather have electronic receipts instead of having to scan thermal paper receipts which tend to get all marked up even just on the trip home in your pocket.

Also, I find spam from genuine companies quite easy to handle because they are duty bound to provide unsubscribe links and obey GDPR regulations. I don't find Halfords to be a prolific spammer either, and sometimes I do see special offers that are of interest.

Lastly, if you are a Gmail user then you have bigger problems than Halfords having your email address since you now have Google able to see all your emails from everyone and using that to drive ads into your web browsers.


Mr Whippy - 18/6/21 at 12:05 PM

They've been doing that for years, just say no. They only want to gather your info...


David Jenkins - 18/6/21 at 12:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
They've been doing that for years, just say no. They only want to gather your info...


That's what I did - I think the bloke was a bit surprised by my straightforward "No"!


JC - 18/6/21 at 02:00 PM

They have my email address for receipts but amazingly, haven't bombarded me with spam.....

Get loads of crap from Pandora and Pets at home though - not my doing lol!


gremlin1234 - 18/6/21 at 04:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JC
They have my email address for receipts but amazingly, haven't bombarded me with spam.....

Get loads of crap from Pandora and Pets at home though - not my doing lol!
I have to agree, a while ago I gave halfords an email address for a receipt and free mot, and had very few emails from them, one when mot was due again, and another about their opening arrangements last year. so yea, not spam


steve m - 19/6/21 at 07:44 AM

I was pretty sceptical about giving my email out to any store, but in fairness to the ones i have, Halfords, screwfix Pc world, are a few, ive never received an unwanted email from them, just a receipt

I know with Halfrauds and Screwfix, i did ask for no spam emails, to be sent, and im sure they can tick a box to confirm

What i do get daily, is a tirade of absolutely crap emails, from stuff i have never asked for nor want, but even selecting them as spam, does not sort the problem out


Mr Whippy - 19/6/21 at 09:06 AM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m

What i do get daily, is a tirade of absolutely crap emails, from stuff i have never asked for nor want, but even selecting them as spam, does not sort the problem out


That's because Halfords and Screwfix sold your email address to the Chinese to make a quick buck and the Chinese have sold it to the rest of the world. If you look at the small print it will usually says "we may share your details with affiliated partners" i.e. anyone they want, especially if they offer us cash.


nick205 - 20/6/21 at 12:00 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by steve m

What i do get daily, is a tirade of absolutely crap emails, from stuff i have never asked for nor want, but even selecting them as spam, does not sort the problem out


That's because Halfords and Screwfix sold your email address to the Chinese to make a quick buck and the Chinese have sold it to the rest of the world. If you look at the small print it will usually says "we may share your details with affiliated partners" i.e. anyone they want, especially if they offer us cash.



That's the catch - they'll flog data to anyone who'll pay them for it. Simple business really.


craig1410 - 20/6/21 at 11:47 PM

If anyone wants to skip the hand-wavy speculation and look at what Halfords actually do with your data then you can find the privacy policy here:

https://www.halfords.com/customer-services/policies-and-regulations/privacy-policy.html

No mention whatsoever of China for starters (see Overseas Transfer section)

I've got no reason to defend Halfords but I have seen no evidence that they are doing anything shady with our email addresses and I don't think it's helpful to tar every company with the same brush. For sure there are plenty of shady companies out there but let's stick to the facts where possible. The GDPR regulations have teeth for any reputable companies who choose to flaunt privacy laws.

As I mentioned before, anyone with a Google mailbox, or for that matter a Facebook account, has way bigger problems than giving Halfords or Screwfix or most other household UK companies their email address.


Irony - 21/6/21 at 12:26 PM

Love it when a shop emails me the receipt for such things. I shop at places that do this over places that do not simply because then I know I have the VAT receipt for TAX purposes


craig1410 - 21/6/21 at 01:33 PM

Ironically, today I'm trying to find the receipt for an Ikea Dishwasher I bought in 2019 which has started tripping my RCD circuit breaker. I know it has a 5 year warranty but Ikea state that the sales receipt or email is needed as proof of purchase. If only that receipt had been emailed to me then it would be a lot easier to find!

I'm pretty sure I can still claim the warranty without the receipt as I have found the transaction on my bank statement but still, emailed receipts are sometimes very useful!


James - 22/6/21 at 02:56 PM

quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
If anyone wants to skip the hand-wavy speculation and look at what Halfords actually do with your data then you can find the privacy policy here:

https://www.halfords.com/customer-services/policies-and-regulations/privacy-policy.html

No mention whatsoever of China for starters (see Overseas Transfer section)

I've got no reason to defend Halfords but I have seen no evidence that they are doing anything shady with our email addresses and I don't think it's helpful to tar every company with the same brush. For sure there are plenty of shady companies out there but let's stick to the facts where possible. The GDPR regulations have teeth for any reputable companies who choose to flaunt privacy laws.

As I mentioned before, anyone with a Google mailbox, or for that matter a Facebook account, has way bigger problems than giving Halfords or Screwfix or most other household UK companies their email address.



Enjoy GDPR whilst you can... Brexit may have rung it's death nell...

https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/17/post_brexit_laws_mps_wishlist/

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/replace-gdpr-says-prime-ministers-regulatory-hit-squad/5108876.article


craig1410 - 22/6/21 at 03:36 PM

Speaking as someone who works in the IT industry, there's no doubt that GDPR isn't perfect but it has given a welcome boost to privacy. I don't believe the UK will abandon it just because we are outside the EU now.

But like I said, while people are still using Facebook and Google products privacy clearly isn't their priority. Fortunately Apple is making life very difficult in recent iOS updates for those who invade our privacy as part of their business model.

"Enjoy GDPR" - that made me chuckle! I can't say I've enjoyed sitting on various seminars and filling in numerous assessments but if it helps to protect people then I guess it's been worth it.


James - 23/6/21 at 01:42 PM

quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
Speaking as someone who works in the IT industry, there's no doubt that GDPR isn't perfect but it has given a welcome boost to privacy. I don't believe the UK will abandon it just because we are outside the EU now.

But like I said, while people are still using Facebook and Google products privacy clearly isn't their priority. Fortunately Apple is making life very difficult in recent iOS updates for those who invade our privacy as part of their business model.

"Enjoy GDPR" - that made me chuckle! I can't say I've enjoyed sitting on various seminars and filling in numerous assessments but if it helps to protect people then I guess it's been worth it.


I said it with a degree of tongue-in-cheek!

I'm ex-IT and I saw the havoc it wrought amongst the IT team at my last firm!

As for whether it goes... isn't Chairman Jonson planning a post-Brexit bonfire of red tape? And there's definitely money to be made from selling data (sorry! from "boosting date-based innovation" so I don't see it as that unlikely. IDS has form on this one!


May we live in interesting times!!!